Solving air crisis is complex and we will not be rushed, says Sir Howard Davies

Wednesday 7 August 2013 10:52 BST

The man trying to solve Britain’s aviation crisis today rejected calls to speed up his review as he revealed he had received 40 proposals.

Sir Howard Davies — the chair of the government-appointed Aviation Commission — insisted his team faced an “astonishingly complex task” and would not be rushed — and pointed out that, for example, Heathrow’s own proposal for a third runway, made in 2009, was already out of date.

Sir Howard will not make his recommendations on remedying the aviation crisis until after the 2015 general election. But he said had effectively been given more time because the recession had slowed the growth in air traffic.

He said: “The risk of getting things wrong is high. It is interesting to note that Heathrow have put forward three proposals for a third runway, but none of them is the shorter third runway that was going to be built before the Coalition government stopped that development in 2010. So the last decision reached in 2009 would have delivered what the airport itself now regards as a distinctly second best option.”

He added: “Many business people argue that it is urgent to get on with building new capacity — indeed some think we are well behind already. But the recession has given us a little more time. The forecasts for traffic growth have been scaled back significantly since 2007.”

Besides submissions from the “usual suspects” of Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick, there are rival plans for a new airport in Oxfordshire and even the extension of Birmingham airport.

In what might be considered a dig at the Mayor’s blueprint for an Estuary airport, Manchester City supporter Sir Howard highlighted the cost of some submissions of “well over £50 billion in some cases” which could “buy a whole new forward line for Arsenal”.

A shortlist of proposals will be published in December and include short-term fixes not requiring new infrastructure as well as long-term considerations for new runways.